Basketball is a common recreational sport in many parts of the United States and in other countries. In many facilities, commonly on outside school playgrounds and in muncipal playgrounds, unsupervised play often results in vandalism or damage to basketball backboards and rims. In some locations, the situation is severe enough that the backboards and rims are simply removed from the outdoor facilities.
The present invention is directed to a basketball rim assembly for use in removably mounting a basketball rim to a basketball backboard. Removable basketball rims are known in the prior art. As early as 1925, a removable rim which was mounted on the side of a building was disclosed in Kennedy U.S. Pat. No. 1,552,957.
Another removable rim is shown in Rush U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,135.
Prior art removable rims did not sufficiently control the vertical position of the rim relative to the ground. In the prior art removable rims disclosed in the above patents, there is not a secure device which gives a precise vertical position. The Kennedy removable rim has no vertical locking provision. The Rush removable rim includes a slotted opening which receives a lug and is secured by a wing nut.
Furthermore, the prior art removable rim devices required the person who is removing the rim or replacing the rim to climb a ladder or by some other means reach the level of the rim to either remove or replace the rim.